Charlie Reese on Jefferson Davis

[fastpat]

Feeling depressed? Charlie Reese is good medicine for that.

Jefferson Davis

by Charley Reese

Jefferson Davis, one of America's greatest statesmen, said that a question settled by violence would inevitably arise again, though at a different time and in a different form.

And so it has. Lovers and sycophants of the great empire on the Potomac must be feeling uneasy that at least some Americans are again questioning the efficacy of a gargantuan central government.

Perhaps the recent shift of control of Congress to the Democrats has made them nervous, though God knows there are precious few Jeffersonian Democrats in the modern Democratic Party.

And what, you might well ask, is a Jeffersonian Democrat? He's a person who hasn't forgotten that the sovereign states created the federal government, not the reverse, as some today seem to assume. He believes that what the Constitution created was a republic of sovereign states, and that the carefully limited powers assigned to the federal government were all the powers it had, in peace or in war. He believes the Constitution is a binding contract, not a rubbery document that can mean anything a judge or a politician says it means. He believes in a system of checks and balances. In short, he believes in the Declaration of Independence.

That document, you might recall, says that the only purpose of government is to protect rights already granted by God, and that when a government fails to protect those rights and begins to abuse them, the people have the right to alter or overthrow it. "Sounds communistic to me," grumbles old Jack Jingoist. "That guy Jefferson must have been some kind of a pinko."

Why else would Lord Acton, the great British philosopher of liberty, have written to Robert E. Lee, America's greatest soldier, that, "I grieve more for what was lost at Appomattox than I rejoice at what was gained at Waterloo." Lord Acton saw clearly what many American professors of history do not – that the defeat of the South was the end of America's experiment in liberty and self-government and a conscious choice to emulate the central governments of Europe.

H.L. Mencken, the Baltimore journalist, in his usually blunt way said the only thing wrong with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was that it was the South, not the North, that was fighting for government "of the people, by the people and for the people."

Davis had said, "I love the Union and the Constitution, but I would rather leave the Union with the Constitution than remain in the Union without it."

On another occasion, he said: "We feel our cause is just and holy; we protest solemnly in the face of mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice save that of our honor and independence. We ask no conquest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any kind from the states with which we were lately confederated; all we ask is to be let alone; that those who never held power over us shall not now attempt our subjugation by arms."

A newspaper in New Hampshire said: "The Southern Confederacy will not employ our ships or buy our goods. What is our shipping without it? We must not let the South go."

So to add to the definition of Jeffersonian Democrats, they were a majority of the Founding Fathers, a majority who fought the American Revolution, a majority who wrote the Constitution, and a majority who fought for Southern independence. No wonder the precious few still extant make big-government lovers so nervous.

December 13, 2006

Charley Reese (send him email) has been a journalist for 49 years.

[Nostril Cheese]

Jefferson Davis Hogg?



Pat's role model

[Flatbutt1]

"I love the Union and the Constitution, but I would rather leave the Union with the Constitution than remain in the Union without it."

Well I think I understand the sentiment..but I would rather remain in a Constitutional Union and leave the Union that has no Constitution. Frankly how much of a Union can there be without a Constitution?

[Eric 951]

Originally posted by fastpat
Feeling depressed? Charlie Reese is good medicine for that.

only if you are a bitter sec and/or L.O.S.er

and Bobby Lee, while an outstanding general, was not "america's greatest soldier"--even within the context of the Civil War--if he was he would not have blundered into an invasion of the North--and not have made the tactical errors during the Gettysburg campaign which ultimately ended in the loss of his army.

That honor would go to either U.S. Grant or William Tecumseh Sherman.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Nostril Cheese
Jefferson Davis?



Pat's role model

He'd be a fabulous role model for almost anyone. West Point graduate, statesman, hero.

Davis was born on a farm in Christian County, Kentucky, near the border with Todd County. (His birthplace is now the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site.) Davis himself was unsure of his birth year. He wrote: "there has been some controversy about the year of my birth among the older members of my family, and I am not a competent witness in the case, having once supposed the year to have been 1807, I was subsequently corrected by being informed it was 1808, and have rested upon that point because it was just as good, and no better than another." [1]

Davis was the last of the ten children of Samuel Emory Davis and his wife Jane. The family had a long tradition in American history. The younger Davis's grandfather immigrated to the United States from Wales and had once lived in Virginia and Maryland, working as a public servant. His father, along with his uncles, had served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; he fought with the Georgia cavalry and led in the Siege of Savannah as an infantry officer. His older brothers also served. During the War of 1812, three of Davis's brothers fought the British, two of them serving under Andrew Jackson and receiving his commendation for bravery in the Battle of New Orleans.

During Davis's youth, the family moved several times, in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi. In 1813, Davis began his education together with his sister Mary, attending a log cabin school a mile from their home. Two years later, Davis entered the Catholic school of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory, a school operated by the Dominican Order in Washington County, Kentucky. At the time, he was the only Protestant student.

Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi, in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1821. In 1824, Davis entered the United States Military Academy (West Point). He completed his four-year term as a West Point cadet, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June 1828 after he graduated.

Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment and was stationed at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin. His first assignment, in 1829, was to supervise the cutting of timber on the banks of the Red Cedar River for the repair and enlargement of the fort. Later the same year, he was reassigned to Fort Winnebago. While supervising the construction and management of a sawmill in the Yellow River in 1831, he contracted pneumonia, causing him to return to Fort Crawford.

The year after, Davis was dispatched to Galena, Illinois, at the head of a detachment assigned to remove miners from lands claimed by Native Americans. His first combat assignment was during the Black Hawk War of the same year, after which he was assigned by his colonel, Zachary Taylor, to escort Black Hawk himself to prison at Jefferson Barracks—it is said that the chief liked Davis because of the kind treatment he had shown. Another of Davis's duties during this time was to keep miners from illegally entering what would eventually become the state of Iowa.

In 1833, Davis was promoted to first lieutenant of the Regiment of Dragoons and made a regimental adjutant. In 1834 he was transferred to Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory. Around this time, Davis had fallen in love with Colonel Taylor's daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor. Her father did not approve of the match, so Davis resigned his commission and married Miss Taylor on June 17, 1835, at the house of her aunt near Louisville, Kentucky.

Oh, and I put the correct picture of Davis in your post quote, I have no idea who the person is you posted.

[bigchillcar]

boss hogg...dukes of hazzard, pat. anybody have a matching pic of roscoe p. coletrain?

[IROC]

"Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi, in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1821."

Davis went to college at age 10? Maybe college meant something different back then. Or maybe he needs to re-think that 1807/1808 gray area...

Mike

[fastpat]

Originally posted by IROC
"Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi, in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1821."

Davis went to college at age 10? Maybe college meant something different back then. Or maybe he needs to re-think that 1807/1808 gray area...

Mike

There were medical school graduates at age 18 in those days, David graduated West Point after 4 years, at age 20. Things were "different" then I'd say.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally posted by bigchillcar
boss hogg...dukes of hazzard, pat. anybody have a matching pic of roscoe p. coletrain?

here ya go.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by bigchillcar
boss hogg...dukes of hazzard, pat. anybody have a matching pic of roscoe p. coletrain?

Sorry, don't know this stuff, wasn't that some kind of kids show? Seems like I had a girlfriend whose child watched something called that.

[Nostril Cheese]

Boss Hogg was for state's rights too...

[bigchillcar]

it was a serious drama back in the late 70's pat. it seems a cpl of good 'ol boys (never meanin' no harm) were fightin' back the law since the day they were born. the plot also involved a concerned old grampa and a sister who wore daisy dukes that might have been intended to drive ratings up. but i doubt it. this was deadly serious programming and a must watch.

[Nathans_Dad]

Pat was too busy watching the Beverly Hillbillies to bother with the Dukes of Hazzard...

"Come on Flash, we're in HOT PURSUIT!!!"

[Nostril Cheese]

The Duke boys built a Mopar that ran on moonshine as well..

[fastpat]

I think someone needs to tell these overgrown children that television ISN'T REAL, you know, it's fakery.

[Nostril Cheese]

The south shall come again, eh?

[Cdnone1]

I'll do it
Guy's, Pat wants you to stop acting like overgrown children. He wants you to know that television ISN"T REAL that it's you know, fakery.
Hope that clears things up.
Pat, your welcome, hope it helps
Steve

[Nathans_Dad]

Yeah, well, what about REALITY tv?? huh? huh? huh???

[widgeon13]

I was never a Dukes fan but I gotta tell you I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by fastpat
I think someone needs to tell these overgrown children that television ISN'T REAL, you know, it's fakery.

Did someone mention "fakery" or "overgrown children"?